Camp Daisy Hindman Shower Facility, Dover, Kan.

Light Commercial / Honorable Mention

The Camp Daisy Hindman Shower Facility, in Dover, Kan., is a far cry from the lean-to of yesteryear outdoor adventures. The new building was designed and built by students from Kansas State University’s College of Architecture, Planning, and Design, as part of a studio led by David Dowell, AIA, and Douglas Stockman, AIA, principals of Kansas City, Mo., architecture firm El Dorado. It replaces outdated and scattered facilities for the Girl Scouts with a more modern, 2,400-square-foot shower cabin and splash park. Black-stained cedar planks of the exterior walls are stacked tightly at the base of the walls to allow for privacy, but are spaced out in even intervals as they rise to the structure’s gabled roof, allowing light and ventilation to reach the interior. Inside, bright green stall curtains add a pop of color, which prompted juror Cary Bernstein to note that “the high contrast palette is helpful to make an otherwise dreary facility interesting at a design level.” Despite the recognizable form of the structures, Bernstein added that “the strength of the design, even though it's so simple and distinct, can give this facility an identity through the architecture as opposed to through signage and logos and other things.”

Juror Josh Shelton recused himself from discussion.

Click here to see all of the winners of the 2014 Residential Architect Design Awards.